Giants-Indians: Cleveland Falls to Last Place with 4-1 Loss

The weather wasn’t the only gloomy thing in Cleveland on Wednesday. The Indians will have to rely on Cliff Lee Thursday evening to keep them from being swept in their own ballpark after a second straight loss to the San Francisco Giants. 

Watching the Indians try to come back from a 4-1 ninth inning deficit was similar to tuning into NASCAR and not witnessing a wreck. But unlike NASCAR, where the possibility of a crash always exists, you just knew the Tribe were not going to come back from a three-run deficit. Sadly, it would have been the same feeling if they were down by one.

With the loss, the Indians fell to last place in the AL Central.  Even worse?  The Kansas City Royals passed the Tribe by sweeping the Colorado Rockies, the very same Colorado Rockies that beat Cleveland three straight times just a week ago.

Even worse than that?  The Indians made Barry Zito, 2-11 with a 6.72 ERA coming in, look like a Cy Young candidate.

One can only hope this is really rock bottom.

Jeremy Sowers got off to a rocky start for the Tribe, giving up two runs in the first inning. He gave up three total, the other coming in the top of the third,. Sowers gave up nine hits and three runs in seven innings, dropping to 0-3 on the season with the loss. All in all, it wasn’t that bad of a start.

Rafael Betancourt continued his run of hard luck pitching, allowing the fourth and final San Francisco score in the eighth on a John Bowker home-run.

Joe Borowski didn’t look much better, coming on in the top of the ninth and allowing a pair of singles and what should have been the Giants' fifth run. However, Kelly Shoppach made a tremendous play, blocking home plate and tagging Ray Durham for the inning's third out.

Unfortunately, a Giant player was the only one that came close to the plate in the ninth; the Indians went quietly in the bottom half of the inning.

The Giants' first two runs came after three of the first four batters loaded the bases on a pair of singles and a walk. Aaron Rowand delivered a two-run single to center, scoring Jose Castillo and Randy Winn. Sowers then got Rick Aurilla to ground into a double play, getting out of the inning.

In the top of the third, Castillo homered, making it 3-0 Giants.

The Indians got on the board in the bottom of the seventh. Zito was pulled after Shoppach drilled a double to deep center field. Shin-Soo Choo came on as a pinch hitter and singled Shoppach home, accounting for the Indians' only run of the night.

All told, the Indians scattered six hits. The Giants tagged the Tribe for twelve hits.

These two wrap up their series at Progressive Field  on Thursday. The good news for Cleveland fans is there is a high probability of thunderstorms.

The better news is Cleveland ace Cliff Lee will take the mound, seeking his eleventh win. He takes his 10-1 win-loss record and 2.45 ERA into the game, and will face San Francisco’s Matt Cain. Cain is 4-5 on the year with a 4.31 ERA.  After watching Zito break out of his season-long funk against the Indians, Cain is probably licking his chops. Game time is 7:05.